


Surrounded by Gentle Darkness

by NeroAngelo



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Yubel Fusion, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-07-02 02:03:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15786699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeroAngelo/pseuds/NeroAngelo
Summary: When days pass like the minute hand on a clock it's easy to forget seemingly simple promises.The fight against Paradox was a brief encounter, but all it takes is one splash to create a ripple. Yusei makes a promise to let Judai come to Neo Domino City once Yliaster has been dealt with. Now he aims to make good on that promise, a part of his soul drawn to the young man.And Judai is always ready for an adventure.





	1. Present Day - Neo Domino City

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, I'm still working on season 4 of GX and I haven't gone through 5D's for some time. Secondly, I refuse to have Yubel in anything I write, so they won't be involved aside from brief mentions. Thanks for reading, and godspeed.

Half a year has passed since the end of Yliaster, many things including the course Yusei’s life was taking were beginning to settle. Rua and Ruka took a month break before continuing on with their school life, though many of their friends would keep them up to date on their classes much to Rua’s dismay. Aki seemed to hop right back into a normal life, her studies excelling as she shined at the top of her class. Team 5D’s disbanding left Yusei alone in their former hang out after Jack started working on his path towards the dueling world again. Crow struggles a bit, hopping from job to job as he tries to find something that offers enough thrill to make each day worthwhile. Everyone takes time to visit Yusei when they can, either on their own or all together, seemingly afraid to leave him alone for too long after everything that had happened.

Yusei was hardly in any danger, unless you count the hyper focused attention he started to give his work on Momentum. Following in his father’s footsteps after more than a decade of a lack of professional education left Yusei learning as he worked, college classes and visits from his former teammates offering the only respite from his computer and the lab.

The sheer amount of work Yusei was taking upon himself might be the reason everyone drops in to make sure he hasn’t drowned himself in energy drinks and coffee.

Yusei smiles, bringing himself out of his thoughts as he saves the progress he’s made on the program he’d been working on since mid-afternoon. He stretches his arms over his head and takes a glance towards the windows outside. The sky was dark apart from the bright neon lights of Neo Domino, a few sparkling stars managing to shine bright despite the pollution.

Wiping his hands down his face, Yusei rubs his tired eyes the countless hours of staring at a computer screen taking a toll on him. He stands up carefully, his back aching and his legs numb from sitting in one place for too long. He’s picked up a particularly bad posture while sitting at his desk over the past months, something everyone scolded him for.

Taking a short moment to stretch out his lower back and wincing as it cracks and pops, Yusei walks out of his room, clicking the door softly behind him. He wanders down to the living and kitchen area, laughing to himself at the sheer amount of snack foods that have been stacked on the counter over the past week. A few more healthy options, such as fresh fruits and organic snacks, were clear signs of Aki and Crow who were the most likely to pester him about eating properly. And on the other hand, candy and instant ramen were sure signs of Rua and Jack.

Pausing, Yusei weighs the many options that everyone’s left him before grabbing one of, supposedly, healthy fruit snacks. A nice middle ground between pure junk and actual food, something that will prepare Yusei’s stomach for something substantial within the next few hours and ease him off the countless cans of caffeine that clutter his desk.

He meanders his way back to the living room, flopping onto the couch. Not bothering to turn the TV on, his eyes already far too sore from working, Yusei leans his head back on the couch closing his eyes as he occasionally throws a couple of fruit snacks in his mouth to chew on. Down time like this did little to slow the gears in his mind, though he did his best to steer his thinking away from anything he was working on. Instead he chooses to reminisce, the events of the past few years offering a lot to think about.

“Hard to believe we all made it through that.” He wonders aloud to himself with a long sigh. The silence of his home is broken by the sound of footsteps and the rustle of a paper bag, almost causing Yusei jump out of his seat. Pushing himself up from his reclined position he peaks over the back of the couch to spot Crow walking in through the open door, the rest of team 5D’s trialing in being him. Yusei rubs his tired face, somehow he’d missed the opening of the door while lost in thought. Maybe he was losing the sharp reflexes he had built up.

“You played no small part in everything, you know.” Crow grins at him, appearing to have overheard Yusei talking to himself. He hands off the small paper bag to Yusei, the greasy small of french fries hitting Yusei’s nose and causing the pit of his stomach to rumble. It was hardly a health-conscious choice, but neither was picking apart the boxes of snacks and candy on his counter. Giving a quick thanks Yusei all but tears into the hamburger and fries he’s been offered, a little embarrassed as everyone has a good chuckle at his expense.

“At least we didn’t have to drag him away from the computer this time.” Jack says as he passes Crow into the kitchen, the twins trailing in close behind to reclaim some of the snacks they’d left beforehand. He returns, passing a water bottle to everyone before taking a seat sprawled out on the couch next to Yusei who gladly accepts, quickly washing down the ridiculously salty fries. “I bet you forgot we were coming over, too.” Jacks point is proven as Yusei freezes, mid-bite of his hamburger.

He’d definitely forgotten.

“You’re hardly one to talk Jack, we’ve had to pick you up from your place the last two times.” Finding her own seat in the recliner sitting apart from the couch Aki shakes her head. He only huffs in response, as immune to people pointing out the truth to him as ever. The banter gives Yusei a moment to run through his mental calendar, trying to remember when he promised to have them over. Aki takes notice of his panicked expression, smiling at him. “It’s alright Yusei if you forgot, we did sort of push you into a corner while you were half-asleep this time.” She also takes a moment to point to her right cheek, hinting Yusei to wipe that spot with a napkin.

“His fault for getting so lost in his work.” Crow playfully pushes Yusei’s shoulder, “making us worry every time he falls asleep on his keyboard.” Yusei pushes back in a similar manner, that specific even hasn’t happened for at least two months.

Well, _a_ month.

“Thanks for checking in on me, guys.” Yusei smiles, the twinge of guilt he feels for worrying everyone is overwhelmed by their comforting presence. The twins run back in to join them, Ruka squeezing in between Jack and Yusei as Rua connects the game system he pulled out of his bag.

The next few hours of the evening are peaceful. Yusei occasionally joining in the conversation Aki started about her school life as Rua and Ruka take turns running against the bosses of their new game. About two hours in they start letting the rest of the group play as they get tired but wanted to keep progress going. Yusei even takes a shot, attempting to calm down a fuming Jack that couldn’t go more than two feet in the game before getting a game over.

Once the clock hits one in the morning everyone decides to call it for the night, Crow and Jack retiring to their former room and Aki taking up the guest room. Yusei spoils the twins with possibly _too many_ extra pillows, creating a disaster of a pillow fort that they promised to clean in the morning before they both crashed hard face first on the cushions.

Yusei yawns, walking back up the stairs he’d only been down from for a few hours feeling like he ran a marathon. He full-body bumps into his door, clumsily turning the doorknob as he starts to fall asleep on his feet. Similarly to the twins, Yusei just shrugs off his jacket before falling face first into his messy comforter. He makes a hazy mental note to take a shower in the morning, very much aware of how oily his hair feels as he snuggles up against his pillows.

But it was a problem for the next day.

_

Over that night, he dreams in bright colors and images. He’s riding on his bike down a road that runs along the sea, calm waves sweeping up onto shore as the tide pulls out. Such a clean beach a rarety even for the rich and famous in the waking world, Yusei almost feeling spoiled simply by the view of it. Warm sunshine rests on his skin, a comfortable feeling settling in the center of his chest as he parks the bike at the side of the road. Leaping over the safety rails of the road, Yusei lands down the slight drop to the sand taking a moment to remove his boots and socks as he walks towards the water. It’s a small joy the feel the sand underfoot.

The sound of the waves is strangely lacking, but Yusei pays it no mind. Rather than crunching under his feet the sand makes light musical notes, like the wind chime outside the back porch of Martha’s place that Yusei fell asleep listening to many nights of his childhood. The nostalgia that feels bittersweet nowadays is able to be simple memories in this unconscious world.

He wanders down the shore, the sound of a dozen summer dreams ringing with each step. The road has vanished from his view, leaving the sand stretching on as far as the horizon. A warm breeze has picked up, seemingly guiding him down a particular path down towards the water. His gaze wanders to the sky over the water, the sun out of sight but still shining down on him. Stars manage to shine their way through, a gentle darkness surrounding each light helped them stand out against the bright, midday sky.

Yusei’s eyes fall from the stars down to the open water and he blinks in surprise as he spots a figure out in the water. Their shoulder length hair is styled up, the sun shining on the brown locks making them almost into a bright gold color. The crimson color of the jacket tied around their waist almost hurts Yusei’s eyes as the light turns it into a brilliant flash of red, like the darkest color of a sunset. The figure turns revealing their brown eyes, flecks of gold seem to shine like their hair when the sunlight the hits their smiling face.

A sudden shadow washes over them as Yusei’s heart catches in his throat, his face warm from a force other than the sun. The figure gives him a wave, either as a greeting or as a goodbye, and the two of them are thrown off their feet by a giant wave crashing down onto the shore creating a cacophony against the musical sand.

And Yusei wakes up, his dream startling him awake like a bucket of cold water.

His heart races for a few moments, not necessarily scared but the surprise ending of being thrown over by the sea caught him off guard. Reminded him too much of a stormy day in Satellite. Letting out a long sigh Yusei sinks back into his pillow, morning light sneaking through a broken blind covering his window landing right on his face pestering him to get up. Yusei ignores it, trying to grab at the feelings the dream that was now escaping back into his subconscious brought him. The person had looked familiar, maybe someone he had met only once.

But they stayed there, the thought of a read jacket and brown hair floats around in his head as he drags himself to the shower. Even through the fifteen minutes of washing and rinsing his body. Brushing his teeth as he dries off he can’t force himself to remember. Looking into the mirror he sighs, pushing his wet bangs to the side as he inspects the dark circles under his eyes. He’s almost given up  trying to think of a name for the dream figure as he walks out of the bathroom, but it hits him as he crosses the doorway, using a towel to dry his still soaked hair.

Yusei had met a person like that, just once. A man kind and ready to help him in an instant, during the attack from Paradox. One of the few people felt comfortable letting ride behind him, even if it had been out of necessity.

“I made a promise to bring him here didn’t I.” Yusei wonders aloud, his stomach growling at the smell of the team’s usual breakfast being prepared downstairs. He stares at the Crimson Dragon’s head that still marks his arm.

“Can I keep that promise?” Quickly throwing on come clothes Yusei walks out of his room, the thoughts of the past now more present than before.

Whether Yusei was aware of it or not, everybody else could sense the change in his mood. The night before, even as he crashed from the caffeine, he was peaceful with a smile on his face. Now he was lost in thought, his gaze passing back and forth from his marked arm to the clear sunny day outside the garage door that remains propped open in an attempt to clear out the stuffy air of the home. The morning started out a very low temperature, a sure sign of the approaching force of Autumn even as the rising sun warmed the world below.

The mood shift irritated Jack to no end.

Yusei was one of the people he could absolutely not stand being afraid of taking the next step forward and it took countless interferences from the other to stop him from getting in Yusei’s face as soon as he left his room. Crow, more prone to staying back until the right moment to talk, warns Jack to take it easy as Aki and the twins try to focus on their homework through the constant disruption. Jack finds his chance to get Yusei alone when he suddenly says he’s going to drive up to the park over Neo Domino. Usually that’s way of telling everyone he needs time to think something over, it being his favorite nighttime spot when he’s got a lot on his mind. It was rare for him to go so early in the day, and Jack hopped at the chance.

The younger members of their group still have homework to do, though Rua clearly wants to be doing anything but sit still, and Crow says he drives around enough as it is. He throws in that he’ll go if there’s dueling involved, but Yusei turns the chance down promising him a duel some other time as he pushes his duel runner out of the garage, Jack waiting in his own just outside. Crow gives Jack a suspicious look and if Jack were any more childish he would’ve stuck his tongue out to taunt him. Instead he gives a two finger salute before roaring off to follow behind Yusei. Left behind, Crow just huffs closing the garage door as the temperature outside is still too cold for his liking.

“You hate this cold just about as much as Crow does, why follow?” Yusei shouts over the wind rushing past their face, a familiar smile on his face. He was glad to not be alone, even if his company was a grumpy Jack.

“And let you miss out on my five-star advice? What kind of friend would I be then?” Jack says back with a huff resulting in Yusei letting out a proper laugh.

“I can’t wait.”

The ride takes them slightly longer than usual, the typical route Yusei taking to the park being closed off for road work. They pull into the park, hiding their familiar bikes in a shadowed part of the parking lot in hopes trying to avoid tipping off other people walking around that they were there. There would be fewer people than usual as the temperature outside drops, but they couldn’t be too careful with the chance of a fan recognizing them. They walk, talking about various things, Jack teasing that Yusei’s speed was slower than usual; a sign of his skills starting to rust without use. Yusei retorts with the fact he could still beat Jack even at his worst. Jack begs to differ.

“Now,” Jack starts as they reach the summit Yusei taking his usual spot to stare fondly down at the city that never rested, “you’re going to tell me what’s on your mind, and I’m going to give you my opinion.” Yusei blinks at him in surprise, turning away from the city to instead lean on the sturdy rail the stood between him and the drop. He feels a shiver crawl up his back as he remembers jumping down to the sand of the beach, missing the warmth of his blankets against the morning air.

“Do I have a choice in the matter?” Yusei says jokingly, Jack lips twitch into a slight smile.

“You won’t talk if you don’t want to, but I’m the only one in our happy little band right now that’s got a stable enough life right now to shoulder some weight.” Jack says bluntly, the only way he knows how. Yusei almost wishes Jack wasn’t so straightforward, then he could laugh it off. But he wasn’t wrong. With Crow being unable to settle down and Aki’s upcoming graduation the next spring the world was moving fast for anyone stuck thinking about past encounters. And Yusei has a nasty habit of keeping things to himself.

“Since when did you become so interpersonal?” Yusei mutters, looking away from his long-time friend.

“Around the time you became a head scientist.” Jack smirks at him, taking a spot leaning next to Yusei, the cold metal of the guardrail sinking into his lower back. “They give you that doctorate yet, Dr. Fudo?” Yusei scrunches his nose up at the official title. He had many problems with his co-workers calling him a doctor, it felt too clinical for Yusei, too much like he was a figure instead of an actual person. Like how the title of ‘King’ felt when he won if off Jack.

“Not yet, they said something about having to earn it,” Yusei crosses his arms, “despite giving me a job I’m extremely under-qualified for, according to their standards.” He was too used to working on his own, the nest his room becomes over the weekends being evidence of that. But the job called for areas of study that he was unfamiliar with, thus forcing him to make friends with people who still stare at him starstruck. Or at his marker.

“Oh, you’re doing fine.” Jack says with a haughty voice. “But I don’t think that’s what was bothering you this morning.” Yusei clicks his tongue, as if he’d been trying to avoid the topic. He lets a long pause settle before he opens his mouth to speak again. If anyone was going to give Yusei a quick opinion it would have to be Jack.

“Do you remember Paradox?” He throws out eventually, earning a confused glare from Jack as he thinks back. The rest of the team would’ve only heard the man’s actual name from Yusei after he returned telling everyone of his battle alongside the original King of Games. Yusei got a lot of jealous looks from everyone that day, including Jack.

“That Yliaster guy who stole Stardust that one time?” Jack asks, Yusei has to bite back the fact that half of the question could apply to Jack himself. Instead he nods in response causing Jack to furrow his eyebrows. “What made you think of him now?” Yusei uncrosses his arms, shoving them into his pant pockets as the light chill starts to bite through the thin parts of his riding gloves.

“The other guy besides Yugi that helped me fight, Judai,” he pauses trying to phrase the words in the right way, “I just remembered a promise I made to let him visit Neo Domino if I got the chance.” Jack takes the statement with little surprise, maybe even a touch of disappointment. Yusei lets out a short sigh with a smile. “Not everything I fret over is going to lead to the end of the world, Jack.”

“Not unless you really mess up.”  He mutters, to which Yusei has to agree. “Is that really what you’re brooding over?” A little thrown off by Jack’s instant acceptance Yusei nods. Maybe it wasn’t as big of a deal as he thought. “Just take a page out of my book and do it, you don’t always need everyone’s go ahead.”

“The world would be chaos if I were anything like you.”

“Do you really think a day trip to the past is going to make you into Z-one?” Jack, ignoring the comment, is ever straightforward getting to the heart of the conversation strikes Yusei deep in the chest with the simple question.

He bites his lip, not wanting to give Jack the satisfaction of being right on the first try. Though he can tell from the look on his face Jack took his silence as an answer. Fiddling with his hands in his pockets, Yusei leans his head back to look at the clouds that are beginning to roll in. Doesn’t look like it’s going to rain, but the clouds were starting to cover the sun taking the last warmth of summer with it.

“Guess I am.” Yusei mumbles into the zipped collar of his jacket. The stoic look on Jack’s face falters for a moment, this topic wasn’t exactly he could tease about though he’s the one who brought it up. A brisk wind rushes past them sending a shiver up Jack’s back, he quickly crosses his arms trying to keep himself warm with the sudden temperature drop.

“Well, if this ‘promise’ has been bothering you that much, shouldn’t you just go ahead and bring him here?” Jack says quickly, his distaste for the cold now taking priority to which Yusei gives a slight smile. “You don’t like making promises you don’t keep. Though you tend to do that a lot.”

Yusei nods along. There was the large chance he was overthinking everything, as usual. If he could keep his promise to Judai, then why shouldn’t he? He had seemed like the type of guy looking for an adventure and a place to belong, Neo Domino offers plenty chances for both. Jack seems to finally have enough of being the shoulder to cry on and he pushes himself away from leaning on the guard rail to start down the path back through the park. Pausing, Yusei looks back over the city the cold lighting of the now cloudy sky does nothing to diminish the brilliant cityscape Jack’s fading footsteps stop, apparently waiting for him to tag along. Yusei turns with a curious look.

“I’ll see you off.” He says matter-of-factly. Yusei shakes his head with a laugh.

“I didn’t say I was going!” He responds with a slight shout. Jack just shrugs letting out a ‘hmph’ as he turns on his heel to continue down the path. Sighing for the twentieth time that day, Yusei gives the city below once last passing glance before he follows after Jack. Their walk back down is much less full of small talk, Jack most likely giving himself a mental pat on the back for being so thoughtful as Yusei stays lost in thought.

Would the Crimson Dragon answer his request? The fate of the world wasn’t on the line this time, a forgotten promise would leave little impact on the future. His worries are quickly answered as the ancient dragon senses his thoughts. The mark on his arm gives off a bright glow, a fluttering feeling rising in Yusei’s chest that can only be described as excitement. It seems the spirit has a playful side to it as well.

Yusei only speaks up again when they arrive at their duel runners, surprisingly enough no one had noticed either of them on the return trip. He catches Jack’s attention as the man makes a bitter face at the cold state of his seat.

“You do realize you’re going to have to explain where I went to everyone?” Yusei taunts as he puts on his riding helmet, taking a seat on his own near frozen bike. He gets displeased grunt in response.

“I’m starting to regret being the responsible one for once.” Jack says, though he doesn’t continue on to discourage Yusei from leaving. Instead he revs up his duel runner, giving Yusei a quick wave goodbye as he drives forward to peel out of the parking lot, possibly too fast for such a populated part of the city. Yusei grimaces as the roar of the engine fades into the distance, hopefully Security would overlook the speed duelist.

“Didn’t he say he wanted to see me off?” Yusei’s now faced with two choices. He could go ahead and try to use the power of the Crimson Dragon to travel back in time. The glow has not faded from the sign on his arm, the head of the dragon staring at Yusei through his elbow length glove. He could also turn tail and go home, though he’d be facing the far worse fate of a disappointed Jack.

Maybe he only has the one option.

Throwing a leg over the seat of his bike, Yusei warms up the engine waiting for the heat to warm up the metal and thaw out his cold legs. The weather has taken such a switch from the sunny day it had started as briefly, he hopes its not an omen for what he’s about to do. He takes in a deep breath, watching the steam disappear as he lets it out in another long sigh.

Revving the engine, he pulls out of the park turning in the opposite direction of where Jack had gone. A long stretch of road would likely be necessary, the highway being to open and populated for his liking in this situation instead he makes way towards the direction of the pier. He’d prefer it if no one noticed him or the Crimson Dragon as he disappears, coming back to tabloids theorizing on absurd reasons he would go missing wasn’t exactly the most pleasant idea.

He drives up to park momentarily near the docks, the lack of people likely from a lunchtime break, a majority of the people usually leave for food off site, leaving behind only a few workers and guards watching over the cargo. Yusei has this small sliver of time before everyone else comes flooding back in. Waves crashing against the concrete pier, the distant sound of a wind chime ringing as he watches the sea water splash up and fall back down spraying Yusei with a mist of salt water.

Bright flames appear over the surface of the water, slowly building into a large imposing form. The Crimson Dragon materializes smoothly sailing through the air just above the water, larger waves washing through it causing small portions of its body to fade in and out like the flicker of a candle flame. Yusei watches the flamed figure dance along the waves, the ancient spirit rearing back its head to let out a loud cry.

Yusei takes that as his que, leaning forward and revving his bike up as the dragon raises to make a loop in the air. He accelerates as the Crimson Dragon’s head lines up next to him, the lightweight feeling of adrenaline fluttering in his stomach as the two race down the concrete of the docks. Their display earns some hollering from the remaining dock worker, a few cheering as Yusei feels the space around him bend the path ahead of them transforming into a starry vortex.

The riding duelist vanishes into the portal that opens, the hole closing with an almost pop-like sound leaving no trace of the bike apart from the gust of wind trailing behind him kicking up stray leaves and scattered newspaper.

Up on the hill where his home sits Jack faces a confused opposition interrogating him for the location of their missing leader, a slight panic in the air as they continue to point out their glowing signs to him. The last of his patience is wearing thin as he bursts out of the door, letting the mid-afternoon chill of fall cool off his head. Everyone following close behind him cut themselves off as they hear the call of the Crimson Dragon. Their questions answered by the rising form of the spirit as it vanishes through the clouds, leaving a wide gap that spreads over head letting the sun back through to warm the remaining Signers. They’re no less confused but their connection stays strong as ever, reassuring their frayed nerves.


	2. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun time camping adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this when I had a few chapters piled up, but I've changed my mind. Enjoy.

The Crimson Dragon’s roar fades away along with its flaming form into the deep scarlet sunset that hangs overhead, the crisp fall air of Neo Domino disappearing from Yusei’s body with as a humid, summer breeze washes over him. Removing his riding helmet, Yusei grimaces at the sticky feeling the sudden change in temperature leaves on his skin. He makes a quick move to remove his jacket, tying it sloppily around his waist in favor of roasting slowly. The familiar sound of cicadas, something that was generally heard only on the very outskirts of Satellite, is now blaring. It was almost loud enough to warrant Yusei covering his ears.

Instead he shakes his head, trying to tune out the sound as he takes a proper look around. Quickly, it becomes apparent that he hadn’t landed in a city, or close enough to see one. The asphalt road under his feet stretches far in both directions, twisting around the wooded mountains that the road leads down. Under the cliff that the road rests upon trees stretch on seemingly to the horizon, the only hint of civilization being smoke rising up in various spots out of Yusei’s view. Despite the lack of an open body of water in sight he can’t help but be reminded of his dream, the sun kissing his skin in a similar manner to how his brain imagined.

…Was the Crimson Dragon messing with him?

Silently contemplating the chance the ancient spirit might be playing with him, in revenge for forgetting the promise he had made, Yusei whips his head back around hoping for any sign of another person that would let him know where he is. He pauses as his eyes catch something he missed on his first look around, a truck pulled off to the side of the road. Curious, and with nothing better to do, Yusei revs up the duel wheel, driving closer to take a better look. His hopes start to rise when he spots someone standing at the popped-up hood of the truck.

Or, rather, leaning on it as they hold their head in their hands. Kicking out the stand for his bike, Yusei tilts his head at the sight. His gaze trails away from the person as he stops the d-wheel’s engine. He spots a small, furry mass wandering towards him, a particularly fat cat that has started to walk over to investigate his bike. With a slight smile, Yusei removes a glove off one of his hands leaning down to let the cat approach him. It only gets about halfway between Yusei and the truck before it pauses, giving him a long look before flopping lazily onto its side.

“Oh, that really hurt,” the person’s voice partially gets Yusei’s attention away from the friendly shaped cat, he watches them the back of their head a last gentle pat. Yusei feels a slight pang of guilt, the sudden sound of his appearance probably startled them. “Didn’t even hear them come up.” They mumble, stretching their arms over their head. “Could’ve,” the person leans one arm back on the truck peering around the hood to peer down the road pausing when they see Yusei, “stopped.” Yusei panics, realizing he has been caught in the awkward leaning position of trying to make friends with a cat that’s currently giving him a cold shoulder. The person’s surprised expression swiftly changes into a wide grin. They sweep the headband out of their hair, allowing their bangs to fall over their face though the rest of their hair remained held back in a ponytail. Yusei comes to the quick conclusion about his earlier doubt towards the Crimson Dragon.

“Yusei!” The person, who Yusei has now realized is _Judai_ , hops around the front of the truck nearly falling flat on his face as the cat takes a swing at his ankles. “Pha-roah!” Judai winces as he lands clumsily on one of his legs, pausing his approach to hold his leg for a moment. Finally snapping out of his stupor, Yusei straightens out and hops off his bike. He walks up to check on Judai, who was assessing if his ankle was hurt at all while the criminal who took a swing at him meows before melting back into the warm pavement. The crunching of gravel under Yusei’s boots catches Judai’s attention and he tilts his head up to look up with another grin on his face. Yusei smiles back, leaning down to his level, taking a look at Judai’s leg for himself.

“What brings you to this neck of the woods, stranger?” Judai asks, deciding his leg is no worse for ware and standing back up along with Yusei. “Is some other dude from the future stirring up trouble again or did you just come to see me?” Judai adds a wink at the end of his sentence and Yusei huffs amusedly.

“No one from the future, unless you count me. And uh,” shifting on his feet Yusei folds his arms across his chest, “I did promise.” Judai tilts his head with a confused look, taking a moment to think as Yusei starts to become more flustered. Just as Yusei starts thinking that the promise really was just a dream Judai makes a face of realization.

“Ohh,” he hums to himself, tapping his chin with one of his hands as he stares at the woods below the cliff they were standing on, “that’s right.” Judai looks back up to Yusei with an apologetic look. “Sorry, I forgot. It’s been almost a year since you picked me up last time and I’m actually about to meet up with a bunch of old school friends.” Yusei stays quiet, embarrassed by his own forgetfulness.

“No need to apologize, I did just drop in unannounced.” Not that they could’ve really set up a meeting time, Yusei was at the whim of an ancient dragon and Judai has his own life. Judai smiles sweetly, looking away from Yusei to the sunset, which gradually approaches towards dusk. Yusei looks to the sky for a moment before looking back to Judai’s now worried expression. “You want me to take a quick look at the truck?”

Judai’s face brightens back to normal, and Yusei begins walking to the front of the beat up truck as soon as he nods. He peers into the engine, thrown off a little by the older make of the parts. Some vehicle enthusiasts like to keep old cars up and running, but by the time Yusei has seen them they’ve either been modified to accept more modern parts or were rotting away in junkyard. He frowns slightly, nothing around the engine seems to be out of order, he turns his head towards Judai whose given up looking at the car anymore and taken up using his shoelaces to play with Pharaoh.

“Keys?” Yusei asks, stealing Judai’s attention briefly from the cat. He tilts his head up to Yusei, his bangs fluttering in the wind. The crimson light of the sunset reflecting golden streaks in his eyes with a bright orange color, almost glowing. Caught slightly off guard Yusei finds himself staring perhaps a little too long, their eyes locked in place. A brief memory of their last encounter replays in his head, Judai’s eyes had glown bright gold and turquoise during their duel against Paradox.

“Still in the ignition.” Yusei pulls himself away from Judai’s supernatural eyes, nodding his head as he walks to the drivers side. Judai’s aware gaze follows him, watching him as he opens the car door and lean in before turning his attention back to Pharaoh. The cat has lost interest in his shoelaces, instead taking the time to give itself a bath. Judai smiles, scratching him behind the ears before standing up to walk behind Yusei.

Yusei’s face is in a firm frown as he turns the keys, the truck’s engine giving a weak whine before it sputters out. He turns the key once last time before giving up and leaning onto the driver’s seat. There isn’t much he can do about a dead battery in the middle of nowhere. He sighs, seeing only one way to solve this problem.

“No good, huh?” Judai’s close voice causes Yusei to jump a bit. He looks back towards him, being much closer than he was before. Judai has an apologetic look, “sorry, I tend to sneak up on people by accident.” Yusei shakes his head, standing back up from his leaning position on the car seat.

“Batteries totally dead.” Yusei mutters into his hand as he holds his chin in thought. He perks his head up as he recalls what Judai said a few minutes ago. “You said you were meeting up with some friends?” Judai nods back, twisting his neck to look down the road towards the direction he had been traveling.

“Guess we’ll head there and leave the truck overnight.” Judai hops up on the truck using the tire to reach over into the bed. He pulls up a large back pack, quickly putting it on with more ease than Yusei expected from his slim figure. After that bag Judai reaches in again, pulling out a grocery bag that’s weighed down by a dozen or so cans. Yusei stares oddly at the bag, prompting Judai to smile as he hops down from the truck. “I’m picky about my beer.” He says, waving the bag of cans slightly.

“Oh,” is all that Yusei manages. Judai didn’t look like the type to drink, but to each his own. “Did you just imply I’m giving you a ride?” Judai looks at him, a bit taken aback by the way he phrased the question. He shrugs in response, calling Pharaoh to follow him with a click of his tongue as he turns from Yusei to start walking down the road.

“Nah, I’ll just walk the last mile of my journey. I might even get there before the sun’s gone completely.” With that said, Judai starts off down the long stretch of asphalt. A disgruntled Pharaoh carefully keeping pace just a few feet behind him occasionally looks over his shoulder to Yusei as he watches in bewilderment.

“Wait.” Yusei says, flustered by the sudden turn of events. Judai pauses his footsteps, allowing Pharaoh to fully catch up. Judai turns his head towards Yusei once more, a mischievous smile on his face. He barks out a laugh as Yusei waves him back over.

Sweeping an arm down to grab Pharaoh, Judai practically skips back to Yusei, the other duelist letting out a slight huff before throwing his leg over the seat of the bike. He leans back to open the compartment for the spare helmet he keeps for emergencies. Emergencies including giving people from the past a ride apparently. He passes it off to Judai who momentarily trades him Pharaoh in order to put on said helmet. He takes the cat back, waiting for Yusei to give him the go ahead to squeeze in behind him.

“You give rides to people often?” Judai says playfully, sliding one of his arm around Yusei’s torso. His other hand holds onto his side gently, trying to keep Pharaoh safe in place while his arm is still weighed down by the grocery bag. Sliding his hands into place Yusei pulls down the guards, Judai having to adjust his sitting position as the seat slides into place, Yusei revving the engine to life. He tilts his head back to look at Judai as he kicks the back stand up.

“No.” With that said, he pushes off the ground accelerating forward to pull around in a circle toward the direction Judai had started walking towards. Judai gives a small hum in response, leaning his head on the wide of Yusei’s back as he starts to realize how tired working on the truck for two hours had left him. Yusei shifts his shoulders at the added weight, Pharaoh letting out a squeak at the sudden lack of space.

“Who chose to have your meetup out in the middle of nowhere?” Yusei speaks up, causing Judai to open his drooping eyelids. He better stay awake, falling off the bike wouldn’t be any fun once Yusei picked up speed. Yawning, Judai tightens his grip on Yusei’s waist just slightly.

“Fubuki-san has a strange talent for finding places,” he replies shaking his head after the yawn, “there’s actually a town just around the bend, right past the campgrounds we’re at. We make sure to be within reach of a hospital just in case.” Yusei hums, the sound resonating in Judai’s ears as he continues to lean his head on his back.

It wasn’t uncomfortable, letting Judai into his space like this.

It hadn’t been the last time they met either.

The two quickly arrive at the camp grounds twenty minutes later as Judai points out the turn Yusei nearly missed. The start of dusk shadows over them as they drive through the individual sites where other groups were set up. Judai waves happily to the children that gasp in delight at the sight of the duel wheel, their already exhausted parents staring at the two men with scorn as their children gain a new wave of energy at such a late hour. Judai waits until they’re out of sight of the parents before childishly sticking his tongue out at them. He looks back to the path in front of the, grinning.

“Over there!” Judai points towards a spot where a group of people have settled down for the night around a camp fire, a few of them holding long sticks with marshmallows over the flames. Complying with his directions, Yusei pulls up into the gravel parking space across from the tents. Switching the engine off and parking the bike into place with the stand, Yusei stares blankly at the group of friends who they’ve now gotten the attention of. A particular young man in a loose black sweater leaps up from his spot on an overturned log, a large scowl on his face.

“Hey!” He yells, stomping around the fire a few steps. “You can’t just go parking in our-” he freezes when Judai removes his helmet still sitting behind Yusei, “Judai?!” A couple of surprised gasps spread through the others still sitting around the pit. Apart from a dark blue haired man who looks rather amused at the turn of events. The corner of Yusei’s mouth twitches in to a slight smile and he takes off his own helmet, resting it over the duel disk set in the dashboard of the d-wheel. He was still uneasy at the thought of leaving the bike in the open air, but he doesn’t have much choice at the moment.

Pharaoh wiggles out from Judai’s grip, pouncing off his lap towards the group around the fire. The one who had jumped up remains frozen still staring confusedly at Judai and Yusei until Pharaoh meows at him before rubbing his face against one of his legs. With a huff the young man, walks back to his seat Pharaoh following close behind, his tail high in the air.

Yusei carefully throws his leg over the seat of his bike, pausing as Judai hops off on his own just barely bumping into Yusei with his backpack. The brunette jogs up to the group where he’s greeted warmly with smiles and quiet comments seemingly about Yusei as they glance slightly at him when talking to Judai. Yusei stands up from his bike walking over to the group as Judai appears to laugh at a question from one man with his long brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. Judai starts shaking his head with a slight red tint to his cheeks, just barely visible in the orange light of the fire before he starts handing out the beer he brought to a few of the others. Yusei takes a spot next to Judai, a little farther from the rest of the group. Judai offers him one of the cans, but he quickly turns it down.

“I only really drink around friends.” Yusei gives an apologetic look to Judai who just as happily opens the can for himself. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Judai hums before taking a drink. “I’m surprised you gave me a ride.” Their friendly silence is broken up by a cough from the man with dark blue hair that Yusei had spotted earlier. He doesn’t speak instead nodding his head to the ponytailed man who was leaning forward onto his knees with a friendly smile.

“So, whose you’re plus-one? Seems like a nice guy.” He asks, the other man next to him reaching behind him for something. He straightens back up, offering a water bottle to Yusei who accepts with a shy thanks. The rest of the group leans to Judai, anticipating his answer and leaving Yusei slightly intimidated. Judai opens his mouth to answer but seems to scan his eyes over the group in search of something.

“Johan and the others aren’t here yet?” He asks earning a couple of heads shaking from the rest. Judai purses his lips in a pout. “Of all the times, I wanted him to meet Yusei.” The name earns a few reactions, namely a doubtful stare from the shortest member of the group. The young man next to him, with his hair pulled back underneath a dinosaur-themed bandana leans forward excitedly.

“ _That’s_ Future Boy-don?” He says in wonder, almost impressed. Judai’s eyes, once again glowing in the light of the fire, close slightly as he furrows his eyebrows. Yusei tilts his head, a small smile on his lips from the nickname Judai seems to dislike. The one who shouted that out almost immediately covers his mouth earning a few teasing laughs from the people closest to him. Judai looks at Yusei with a quirked-up eyebrow but he just shrugs in response.

“That’s the best nickname you could come up with?” Yusei asks jokingly as Judai gives him a sideways smile. “I should introduce myself then,” he turns back to look back at the rest of the group, “my name is Fudo Yusei, using my first name is fine.” He smiles as he realizes this is the first group of people he’s introduced himself to that didn’t already want him dead. Everyone nods along in response, the image of the person Judai told them about almost a year ago now replaced with the real deal. “As you know, I’m from the future. A lot of my life has been pretty rough recently, but things are finally settling down which is why I thought about coming back to visit Judai.” Yusei says carefully, hoping for no strange questions about his life until now.

“Is your bike from the future too?” A young woman asks from her seat next to the man in the black sweater who now preoccupied himself with Pharaoh who was all too happy to receive the attention. Yusei nods.

“It’s called a duel wheeler, that model is something I built myself.” Most of the group responds in surprise.

“A _duel_ wheeler?” The shortest member of the group asks. “Does that mean you can duel with that?” Yusei nods, and he can see the hopeful look on the man’s face light up and fade away as he sees just how dark it has gotten. Yusei feels a bit disappointed as well, usually he’s the first to show just how wonderful riding duels can be. He looks at everyone as they try to imagine how the duels would work and makes a decision.

“I promise to show it off tomorrow.” Yusei smiles as everyone’s face lights up, every one of them must love dueling. The only one who didn’t look visibly excited was the more brooding man with dark blue hair, though he seems to be the type to stay reserved. He notices Yusei’s stare returning it with his own intense gaze, it was almost intense enough to throw Yusei off. The man seems amused by their little staring contest as he turns to the messy ponytailed man next to him.

“None of us introduced ourselves.” A few of the other who were chatting quietly stop their conversation when he speaks up. Judai snorts into his can as he takes another drink. Yusei takes a slow deliberate sip from his water as everyone exchanges embarrassed look, apart from the brooding man and the guy he had turned to who both looks similarly amused as Judai.

“I’ll start us off then,” the man with the messy ponytail begins, “I’m Tenjoin Fubuki.” He bows his head with a dramatic flair. “This over here, is my little sister Asuka.” Fubuki waves an arm to Asuka who waves her hand slightly to Yusei. “This grumpy mess right here is Hell Kai-”

“ _Don’t._ ” He interrupts Fubuki with a growl before he can finish the nickname. The shortest man who sat on the ground next to Asuka laughs before giving his own name.

“I’m Marufuji Shou,” Shou says with a hand on his chest before gesturing towards the man who interrupted Fubuki, “that’s my older brother Ryo.” Ryo stops the deadly gaze he’s giving Fubuki, shrugging as he crosses his arms over his chest. Judai laughs, downing the rest of his drink before cracking open another. Yusei stares in wonder at the three cans he’s managed to get through without anyone noticing. Or without Yusei noticing, at least.

“Tyranno Kenzan-saurus!” The man in the bandana offers his name with a large grin on his face. Yusei nods nervously, trying to discern if ‘saurus’ was a part of his name or it just slipped out.

“Thunder!” Judai takes the opportunity to point at the last unnamed man in the loose black sweater. Pharaoh hisses in surprise at the shout, jumping off of Thunder’s lap. Said man looks more mad about the name being shouted than the cat who left him in favor of Ryo’s feet.

“Don’t call me that Judai! My name is Manjoume Jun!”

“You can’t escape it! I love your Thunder catchphrase!” Judai yells back, setting his beer down next to Yusei. “I can’t believe you want to throw it away just when you’ve finally gotten a chance as a pro duelist!” Yusei winces at the loud tone they’ve both taken in their shouting contest. It may be his imagination, but he can guarantee their group is getting some harsh looks from across the path between each camp site. He opens his mouth to step in between them, Asuka starting in a similar manner before someone else interrupts them both.

“Ah, those two are fighting again?” A young man with bright aqua colored hair begins walking up to the fire, two different bottles sported in each hand. He grins happily at everyone, though it falters when he sees Yusei. Behind him walk up two more men, one of which has a cowboy hat and a large… crocodile? On his back. “We got a new one?” The newest member of the party looks to Ryo and Fubuki who both shrug in response, Ryo pointing a finger towards Judai who has turned from Jun with a large grin on his face. Yusei’s too distracted by the large, scaly animal to respond for himself.

“Johan!” Judai shouts, rushing up to the man to throw his arms around him. Tightening his grip on the neck of the bottles in his hands, Johan returns the embrace an arm carefully patting Judai on the back.

“Started drinking without us, tsk tsk.” The man in the hat tips up the brim, revealing one of his eyes covered in an eye-patch. The brown man next to him chuckles, setting the two bags he had thrown over his shoulder down. Taking that as a cue the other one set down his own bad and carefully untied the crocodile from his back.

Yusei’s heart catches in his chest as the crocodile pulls loose from the bandage restraints. He’s heard of exotic pets but letting one loose in a camp site is a bit much, definitely against some sort of safety code. It drags its large body around everyone who cooed their greetings to ‘Karen.’ Kenzan even give her back a hearty pat, which she returns with a swipe of her tail as he comes within range of it.

Fubuki smiles happily as she passes, while Ryo gives a roll of his eyes as she pulls up to Yusei. He sits frozen on the spot as the crocodile appears to sit and judge him.

They sit like that for a moment, Yusei slightly letting down his guard when she hisses before flopping next to where Judai had been seated.

“Ah, he’s got Karen’s seal of approval.” Johan grins, Judai releases his grip around Johan giving the other two similar but more brief welcoming hugs. “I’m sure Judai just shouted my name loud enough to wake everyone, but my name is Johan Andersen.”

“Jim Cook,” he gives one final tip of the cowboy hat before removing it, “believe you’ve met Karen.” The crocodile a few feet from Yusei hisses again, her tail sweeping fallen leaves and branches away from the group.

“Austin O’Brien.” O’Brien gives Yusei a brisk nod before setting up the camping chairs that he and Jim brought along. Jim ‘tsks’ at him for setting everything up before he had a chance to help, but he still pats him on the shoulder with thanks.

“Fudo Yusei.”

“Oh~ so you’re Future Boy, then?” Johan hums, a surprised look on his face as he passes on of the bottles in his hand to O’Brien as he settles into one of the camping chairs he set up.

“Thought he’d show up with a little more pizazz.” O’Brien chuckles, crossing his legs as the cold of the night closed around the group, the fire crackling in the middle of them creating a barrier against the darkness.

“That’s what we get for showing up late.” Jim tilts his head to O’Brien, having taken a seat in his own chair. “Shame Edo couldn’t make it, he’s missing out completely.”

And with that Yusei’s seemingly met the entirety of Judai’s friend group. Their willingness to meet up, even at a stray campground in the woods of the country, speaks greatly to the strength of their bond. Judai’s bright smile as he chats away with Johan might be a driving force for many of them. It was an infectious, sweet thing that brought peaceful looks to everyone around the other.

It’s the sort of strength Team 5D’s might find in him.

The sound of a wine bottle being popped opened brings Yusei out of his thoughts. Jim and O’Brien have taken their seats while Johan drags Judai along back to his spot next to Yusei. The brunette plops down gracefully onto the overturned log, his immediate groaning over the rough landing causes Karen to perk up her head, but she quickly loses interest. The apparent wine bottle now on the scene catches Yusei’s attention however, and he looks to the newcomers in search of an explanation.

He finds it in Jim’s hands, the man placing the now corked wine opener on top of the bags that carried the camping chairs. In the classy, camping young adult fashion he then proceeded to serve himself and O’Brien some wine in a pair of plastic cups. Yusei laughs to himself, it’d be more unusual if the two had pulled out crystal wine glasses. O’Brien seems to notice his staring since he waves his own red cup drawing Jim’s attention to Yusei.

“Fan of wine?”

“Sometimes.” Yusei mumbles, his eyebrows raising when Jim passes the bottle to him.

Careful not to tip it over so much the wine would spill Yusei looks over at the label. It’s nothing he recognizes, not that he expected to, but one word does catch his attention. A Syrah, which Yusei has recently learnt was generally the type of wine he was drawn to. He wasn’t one to crave for vices, he’s seen them make monsters out of men, but his curiosity was piqued. He takes a less than elegant sniff of the contents, his senses hit with the typical smoky taste of the dark red wine.

“What better way to celebrate new friends than a toast. Help yourself.” Jim’s less elegant in passing the plastic cup, choosing to throw it over the flames of the fire pit. Yusei clumsily catches the cup, staring at it with a dumb look on his face. Johan snickers from his spot on the ground, a light raincoat serving as a cushion between him and the dirt.

“We’ve also got cinnamon whiskey, though if you want some you’ll have to say it quick.” As if to emphasize Judai head perks up at the mention of the drink and he quickly has Johan pour him some into a smaller plastic cup. He clicks his tongue at the small amount but resigns himself when Johan gives him a stern look, motioning to the four cans of beer Judai had managed to chug through.

“Don’t drink if you don’t want to.” Judai mumbles around the edge of the cup, taking slow sips of the pungent liquor. Yusei hums, the other man had remembered his comment even now. With that in mind Yusei comes to a decision, he holds the plastic cup and pours a decent cup of the red wine for himself. Setting the bottle down away from the feet of anyone who might knock it over Yusei raises the cup in a small ‘cheers.’

“I can hardly say we’re all strangers now, can I?”

The night dissolves into amiable chatter. Much of the group had questions about the future which Yusei was hesitant to answer thoughtlessly on. Many people would react badly to the sort of divide Satellite and Neo Domino City faced, physically and class-wise. Yusei refuses to say anything that may change the past up to his present. Losing that is the last thing he wanted.

Instead he talks about riding duels, the Fortune Cup that officially made Yusei into a Signer. Of the friends he made during and after that struggle, some careful mentions of the dark signers. Mainly he focuses on the downtime before and after the World Cup.

Likewise, Judai and his friends talk about their school years. Of Judai’s first year, running around campus dueling anyone who would take time to accept his challenge. How he was a thorn in the side of Ryo until he graduated to the professional dueling scene. Of reclaiming Fubuki from Darkness that had spirited him away before Judai even arrived. Of the various duel monster spirits that arrived, trying to the human world as their own kingdom.

Nobody told a story past the first two years. Likely, they all had similar reason to keep quiet.

This somber thought did little to crush the friendly atmosphere around the fire, instead the group’s bond flourishes. Yusei’s sudden appearance was quickly forgotten and he keeps pace as if he’d always been part of the group.

It might help that he was on Judai’s good side, as even the older members of the group seemed to take their lead from him.

He laughs to himself over that thought as the group disperses for the night sometime before midnight. Jim kicks dirt over the smoldering coals of the campfire as Asuka takes lead double checking the tent’s stability. The latecomers were sticking to the tent they brought along while everyone but Yusei and Judai squeeze into a family sized tent. A smaller tent, likely originally meant for the two oldest members of their group is now where the remaining two were stuck. Yusei might’ve been more nervous if not for a cup of wine easing his usual anxiety.

Judai wasn’t visibly uncomfortable with the situation, a drunken flush still on his cheeks as Yusei carries him carefully inside the tightly held up tarp. He wasn’t totally far gone since he got the hint to just lay down in on of the sleeping bags Yusei set up for them. Judai climbs inside of the blanket clumsily, stretching like a lazy cat as he tries to make himself comfortable on the forest floor. Yusei sits down on the sleeping bag next to him, laying on top of it as he waits for the sounds of everyone else to settle in the other tents.

“Thanks for hanging out with everyone,” Judai says his hair splayed out on his bag as he uses it as a pillow, “I know we can all be a handful to deal with at once.” Yusei tilts his head up in thought, loud laughing coming from the direction of Johan’s tent.

“They aren’t nearly as much of a handful as Jack used to be by himself…” He sighs. Not that he’s gone camping with team 5D’s in recent times, it was much more of a trek to find a camp-grounds that was completely unpolluted by the sounds of the city. The silence now was almost deafening, Yusei’s only comfort was the argument now going back and forth between the two other tents in the background.

“Can’t wait to meet ‘em.” Judai giggles as Jun throws a colorful swear towards Johan earning some hoots from Jim and O’Brien. Rolling his eyes, Yusei stares at the ceiling of the tent, the moonlight outside barely illuminating the tarp. “You should get to sleep,” Judai says almost knowingly, “you and Ryo might end up having a competition to stay awake.” As if on cue the older Marufuji brother shouts at everyone to settle down. Yusei hums, his background noise now muted and reduced to the distance cry of insects and leaves rustling with each slight breeze. A little too natural for a city boy.

“And miss out if they start up again?” He asks with a sideways smile.

“We’re not always like this I promise.” Judai stifles another laugh, reminded of his own shouting match with Jun that they had earlier.

“You two! Stop the whispering and sleep!” They startle as Ryo’s voice now shouts in their direction. Yusei lets out a louder than intended laugh, Pharaoh meowing from in between him and Judai far less amused. Not one to take threats lightly he quickly unzips the sleeping bag, using his jacket now as a pillow.

“Goodnight.” He says to Judai as one last rebellious whisper. Judai’s eyes widen slightly, a little surprised at the almost childish act of defiance. It melts into a warm smile.

“Night.” He replies, pulling his arms in to hug against his chest. They both laugh again as Ryo clears his throat with an annoyed huff.

_

Startling awake, Yusei lurches forward bracing himself up on his arms. He wipes the sweat off his head, brushing his bangs out of his face he swallows dryly as he comes back to consciousness. Reality settles in and Yusei lets out a deep breath. He takes a quick glimpse towards Judai, checking to see if he accidentally jostled him awake. Judai seems completely unbothered as he snores away happily, using his empty backpack as a pillow while Pharaoh is sleeping tucked in between the two duelists. Yusei smiles, the carefree way Judai has his arms thrown over his head being an endearing sight to wake up to.

Yusei carefully picks himself up off the sleeping bag, carefully trying not to wake Judai up as he exits the tent for a breath of fresh air. Stretching out his back after sleeping on the ground for hours, wincing as it cracks. Camping in the woods was no good for a city boy like him. He sighs again, walking off towards the fire pit in hopes of keeping warm near the dying embers of their earlier fire. His plan is quickly thrown off as he spots a few people already there, a low fire keeping them illuminated under the foliage. Kenzan and Shou notice him as he approaches while Jun is silently panicking over his marshmallow that’s caught on fire and Asuka carefully toasting her own from across the pit.

“Did we wake you-saurus?” Kenzan asks with a guilty look. Yusei shakes his head, taking a seat in the open camping chair Jim had set out earlier.

“No, just,” Yusei fiddles with his hands in his lap, “nightmares.” The word itself earnt a low hum from everyone around the fire. He smiles slightly, “been through you’re share of rough times?” Jun makes a face and Asuka tilts her head, returning Yusei’s smile.

“Yeah.” She responds simply, the most open the group around the fire seems to be open to sharing.

That suited Yusei just fine. His presence seems to have killed whatever small talk the four were having but the energy around the low-lit fire wasn’t uncomfortable. Though it’s been less than a day Yusei finds himself staring up at the stars thinking of his home.

Days were becoming slower at the former base of Team 5D’s. Rua, Ruka, and Aki seem to be busier than ever with school, they all had likely put off school work in favor of the last tournament though he and Crow had done their best to nag them into catching up on their studies.

Nonetheless, with Jack moving on and Crow jumping from job to job Yusei finds himself reminiscing for the days when they worked together. A bitter feeling sits in the depth of his chest, one that he still feels guilty over. He wants everyone to find something they enjoy, to move on and live their best life but a part of him is afraid of that change.

It’s a dilemma Yusei’s been facing every moment not spent working on Momentum. His unease must be visible to everyone else as Jack all but avoids him outside of monthly promises to reunite. This sort of hesitation doesn’t suit Yusei, or so Jack likes to say. Aki seems to understand him the most, even as she is dragged in every direction by fellow students and proud teachers. Even after the team has technically disbanded they still see him as a leader.

It’s likely that if he doesn’t move forward neither will anyone else.

Yusei shakes his head, his face must have a melancholy look since Shou gives him a concerned look as he brings his gaze back down to earth. Seeming to sense the tension Kenzan breaks the silence.

“Do you wanna tell us about what happened-don?” He says, the question catching everyone’s attention. Yusei tilts his head in confusion, which Kenzan blinks at oddly. “Oh,” he hums in realization, “I meant about what led to the nightmares. It’s best to talk those sorts of things out.”

“Kenzan that’s a little,” Shou interrupts himself as Yusei shakes his head with a smile. It was a personal question, but Yusei had opened the door to that sort of questioning when he decided to join them.

“It’s alright, but I won’t share that many details.” Yusei leans back into the chair, the firm canvas of the seat made it hard to feel totally comfortable.

He talks briefly about the Dark Signers. Of the team that seemed to be thrown together over night. How they faced adversity from strange places, even long-time friends. How Yusei had felt like fate threw him into a never-ending pit.

He even talks about the World Grand Racing Prix. Of the dear friend that had all but forced himself into Yusei’s life and vanished just as quickly, like a lucid dream that woke him with a harsh slap. He leaves them with more happy notes though. Talking of how the future isn’t set in stone and how proud he is of everyone he’s met as they move towards their future. It was the least he could try and do after venting at them out of nowhere.

The group seems be more relaxed now, Yusei bared his heart open and he no longer appears to be an anomaly from the future. And judging from the sympathetic and sometime grim looks he gets it seems they’ve had their fair share of turmoil. Leaving the tent was meant to clear his head, and in a manner of speaking it has. Hopefully he hasn’t overstepped the line, he did just meet this group only a handful of hour ago.

Nevertheless, Yusei still feels as if he’s imposing on these four and he excuses himself, shocking Jun as he dives down to steal a marshmallow from the bag next to him as he leaves.

Always keep people on their toes.

Chewing on the lump of pure sugar, Yusei gently unzips the tent door trying not to fall flat on his face as he removes his boots. He gets a nasty look from Pharaoh as the dim light of the fire leaks inside. Yusei smiles at the cat, whispering an apology as he zips the door back up. A quick flash of glowing eyes pulls his attention towards where Judai had been laying before Yusei left the tent. It may have just been his imagination, the glowing didn’t show again even as Yusei climbs into the sleeping bag left open. Still, Yusei found himself whispering to the other man.

“Did I wake you up?” The slow, even breathing that had been coming from the darkness next to Yusei pauses before letting out a chuckle. Maybe it hadn’t been Yusei’s imagination. Did Judai’s eyes really glow?

“Was I that obvious?” He hears Judai shift in front of him, Pharaoh letting out a noise of disapproval as he presumably turns towards Yusei. The cat gets up from where he had been laying next to Judai’s side, wandering up towards Yusei’s face rubbing against his head with a purr as he lays down in a new spot somewhere behind him. There are no glowing eyes where Yusei guesses is Judai’s face.

“I just have good intuition.” Yusei mumbles laying down using his arm as a pillow as he stares into the dark shapes of the tent, his eyes refusing to readjust to the darkness. Must’ve really been his imagination. “I hope I didn’t dump too much of my personal problems on everyone out there.” He says with a sigh, closing his tired eyes as the deep sleep he had been in before starts pulling him back.

“Maybe,” Judai hums, “but I don’t think they’ll hold it against you. Some of us know how heavy saving the world can be.”

Yusei barely lets out a hum in response, feeling himself drift off. The nightmarish scene of seeing Neo Domino City crushed into dust under Zero Reverse seems to have left him for now. In its wake a soundless sea washes up, wind chimes replaced with harmonious violin strings as he searches the shore. Sea glass lies scattered about, the same deep red as the sweet wine he shared earlier.


	3. An Oddly Quick Farewell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "During his last year at Duel Academy we weren’t,” Ryo pauses to let out a quick sigh, “we weren’t the most supportive after everything that happened.” Yusei knows Ryo’s not trying to talk bad about him because he turns around to give Yusei a genuine smile. “You’ve reassured me though, Judai said you’re not a bad guy and you’ve shown yourself to be just like he says.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: updating some chapters with grammar/spelling corrections

Yawning, Yusei walks back to the fire pit potatoes in hand, taking a seat in the Pharoah-free chair who takes a lazy swipe at his leg as he passes by. Ryo offers the now empty bag to catch the potato skins but otherwise stays quiet. They work in silence, the smell of cooking bacon almost distracting Yusei’s hungry mind. He’s extra careful when he starts cutting the potatoes, making sure they’re cut evenly as his stomach growls again. The lack of a proper table doesn’t help.

“You two were the first ones out last night.” Ryo starts, setting aside the bacon before picking up and egg out of the dozen. “Everyone was up for a while, making all sorts of gossip about ‘Judai’s new friend.’” He cracks the egg on the side of his frying pan, opening it with one hand as Yusei pauses in his slicing to look up.

“Wonder what they’d come up with if they knew I’ve gone to jail.” Ryo pauses as he picks up another egg, removing the pan from the fire he shoots a questioning look at Yusei. He quickly turns back to cooking, cracking open another egg with a slight smirk on his face.

“You didn’t seem the type.” There wasn’t any malice in Ryo’s voice, maybe more of a teasing tone. Yusei turns back to his own task, quietly wondering to himself.

He generally avoids mentioning his brief time in Security, people who started their lives in the Tops still give him shifty looks because of the mark. He was there less than a week but the scars, mental and physical, remain. Between nightmares of becoming a Dark Signer and being the last person left alive, his brain still had time to remind him of the hellish time he’d endured.

“Yusei,” Ryo’s voice brings him out of his thoughts. He quickly checks his hands, making sure he still has all of his fingers. Luckily his body was smart enough to put down the knife. “Didn’t have a fun time, I take it.” He gives Yusei a softer, more understanding smile.

“On the contrary, I started my own riot.” Yusei lets out a sigh, deciding he’s chopped enough potatoes for now. Ryo takes the board with the piled up diced pieces with a thanks, setting it on top of the cooler next to him. Left with empty hands, Yusei fiddles with his thumbs embarrassed to have spaced out like that though Ryo doesn’t seem to have been bothered.

“Everyone was actually pretty worried when Judai first told us about you, even if he probably doesn’t remember their exact reactions.” Ryo starts after a long pause in silence, the sound of eggs sizzling in the frying pan the only noise on their camp site. “We were worried he would just disappear one day.” With the use of ‘we’ Yusei feels the clarification that Ryo worried too hit him in the chest as the man sets aside the last of the fried eggs. He grabs a bottle of vegetable oil sitting next to the fire pit, pouring some into the pan and heating it up before adding a handful of the diced potatoes.

“He has a habit of vanishing on us. That’s why we agreed to start these monthly meetups.” Ryo’s voice has lost any cold edge it may have had when Yusei first walked out of the tent. “We wanted him to know we love him before you came to keep your promise. During his last year at Duel Academy we weren’t,” Ryo pauses to let out a quick sigh, “we weren’t the most supportive after everything that happened.” Yusei knows Ryo’s not trying to talk bad about him because he turns around to give Yusei a genuine smile. “You’ve reassured me though, Judai said you’re not a bad guy and you’ve shown yourself to be just like he says.”

A slight warmth creeps over Yusei’s cheeks, not quite sure how to process the praise Ryo’s given him. Fate seems to take mercy on him however, as Johan exits his shared tent followed closely by Jim and O’Brien. The man’s aqua hair seemed to fly in even more directions than it had the previous night and for a moment Yusei is distracted from his thoughts to worry about the state of his own hair.

Quickly after the first tent came to life, Asuka exits the largest tent followed closely by her brother. Yusei’s ears pick up the muffled sounds of Jun being startled awake and the last three soon join everyone. Fubuki’s the first to dive in, grabbing a plate and start piling food on earning a nasty look from Ryo when he takes more than a fair amount.

Everyone greets Yusei with smiles, any trace of their hesitation from yesterday has completely vanished. Though Fubuki and Johan always seemed to be in his corner from the start, as the latter gives him a hearty slap on the back nearly bowling Yusei forward out of the camping chair. Shou gives him a sympathetic look trailing behind the others as they pick apart the prepared breakfast.

“Oi you pack animals, leave some for Yusei and Judai.” Ryo grumbles over his own small plate of the hash browns. Taking that as his cue to make a plate Yusei hops up out of his chair which quickly gets stolen by Johan, who may or may not have been waiting for the spot to be freed up. Yusei finds himself laughing, weaving his way through the friends as an official part of them.

“You should probably bring a plate to Judai,” Jun gives Yusei a smirk as he begins walking away from the table with his plate, “if he’s slept in this long he’s only gonna be brought out with a bribe.” Yusei blinks in surprise, looking around the group and only just now noticing the lack of the upbeat man’s presence. He gives the shorter man a nod, carefully squeezing past Ryo and Fubuki as they sit close on the ground in a quiet conversation.

Yusei walks up to his shared tent, a plate of quickly cooling breakfast foods tempting him with a greasy and delicious smell that was making his stomach do backflips. He kneels down to unzip the tent door, poking his head inside to see Judai sprawled out over both sleeping bags with a peaceful look on his face as he rests his head on Yusei’s folded up jacket. Yusei’s heartbeat flutters and he stumbles on his words as Judai begins to stir from the sunlight spilling into the dim-lit tent.

Judai tilts his head up to the bright light opening his eyes slightly, reflecting with gold specks in his irises as he becomes aware of Yusei’s presence. He smiles up at Yusei though his expression quickly changes as a loud growl escapes his stomach. Pushing up on top of the sleeping bags his smile turns into a more embarrassed one.

“Morning.” Judai mumbles, his attention quickly drawn from Yusei himself to the paper plate of food in his hand. Instead of handing the plate to Judai Yusei makes a beckoning motion for him to get up and follow before he stands up out of the way. Judai grumbles, something about preferring breakfast in bed as he crawls his way out.  Smiling Yusei waits to hand off the plate as the man sloppily ties his sneakers.

“Good morning.” He finally says back snorting as Judai swipes a piece of bacon, chewing on it before taking the whole plate. Turning back and walking towards the fire pit he gives a surprised look at Shou who hands him a fully loaded plate, seemingly have kept it safe from the others. “Thank you.” His previous spot now taken, and the other chair kept by an untouched Pharaoh Yusei takes a seat on one of the overturned logs next to Ryo and Fubuki. Judai wanders over, half of the food on his plate already gone.  He frowns at the lack of a spot next to Yusei but shrugs it off in favor of squeezing next to Asuka.

“So,” Jun starts catching everyone’s attention, “you started your own prison riot?” The question, off-topic from the amiable small talk everyone had been making about anything from the weather to new card packs, is obviously aimed at Yusei. His eyebrows shoot up, almost flying off his face in surprise while the everyone besides Judai gives him admonishing glare.

“Eavesdropping is a nasty hobby.” Ryo sighs, but otherwise appears unsurprised.

“Even more so to admitting to it-don.” Kenzan gives Jun a swift kick in the shins, not hard enough to hurt him but enough to earn a glare.

Yusei wasn’t exactly embarrassed from, what appears to be, everyone having listened in on him and Ryo. It was actually a little amusing. He could almost hear the imaginative cogs in Jun’s head turning as he tries to stare Yusei, down backing down when he ends up barking out a laugh.

“How’d you end up getting arrested in the first place?” Fubuki asks, curiosity outweighing any possible malice or disapproval. Yusei frowns, pausing for a moment. There was a lot of things that led to him getting ambushed during his duel with Jack.

Though Godwin could be held accountable for each one.

“I guess I was just too popular for my own good.” Shaking his head Yusei puts down his now empty plate. “In a way I was trespassing, but that isn’t really why they grabbed me. They don’t throw trespassers in a dark hole to forget about.” At least, not on the first offence.

The tone around the fire has drastically changed, Fubuki having a guilty look on his face for prying. Yusei didn’t really feel the same pit in his stomach that he usually gets when asked about his time locked up, likely due to the friendlier atmosphere. Reporters weren’t so cordial.

“I’ve done a few more impactful things than that.” Not one to usually flaunt about himself, Yusei finds that he’ll make an exception to change the topic. “I _also_ became the head researcher of a pretty advanced lab, though I’m still working on the doctorate to go with it.” He turns from Jun to judge everyone’s reactions his eyes pausing on Judai. The man stares with wide eyes now filled with wonder, a wide smiling spreading on his face and Yusei finds himself looking away with a relieved feeling in his chest.

“How,” Asuka starts a reasonably confused expression on her own face, “does that even happen?”

“My old man, uh, my father,” Yusei stumbles, the words still unfamiliar to him, “was the head engineer on the project which was sabotaged twenty or so years ago.” He thinks for a moment before he makes a quick realization. “From the time that I came from.” He adds on not quite knowing how far his time is from this camp site covered by rustling foliage.

He doesn’t care to know.

They dissolve back into less Yusei-based topics though he gives some careful answers on Momentum, directing focus more on his near-constant studying which earns him some sympathizing looks from Asuka and Shou, both of them working on a college degree doubled up with being semi-famous duelists. Judai remains surprisingly quiet instead focusing on his phone, shooting a guilty look when he catches Yusei staring. Johan who’s sitting close behind him wasn’t subtle in peering at the small screen, though it may have been more of the fact Judai didn’t mind him hovering over his shoulder.

“What?!” Johan leaps up, fully leaning onto Judai’s shoulders bringing down his head for a closer look. “No way, Judai, that’s amazing.” He gives Judai a grin, the other man humming in his own amusement as he quickly types out something on the phone.

“Care to share?” Jim asks with a slight smile, this sort of behavior might be something typical as no one but Yusei seemed to that curious. Judai shoots Johan a quick look who just nods back in response, standing back up as he wanders to the communal pile of water bottles snagging one before heading back to his seat.

“Not this time.” Judai says, a mischievous look in his eyes. He hops up off his spot on the log, prancing over to Yusei to squat down next to him with a sly smile. “How about we get out of here?” Slightly concerned, Yusei gives him an odd look.

“Already?” Yusei frowns, he hadn’t planned on staying long, but he also hadn’t planned on making new friends. Nodding, Judai stands back up and starts back towards the tent, reaching inside without going the full stretch of removing his shoes again.

No stranger to being dragged along, Yusei excuses himself from the group tossing his empty plate in the group’s garbage bag before walking up behind Judai. He quickly accepts his wrinkled-up jacket as Judai passes it back to him, tying it around his waist instead of putting it on like normal. The memory of yesterday’s sweltering late afternoon heat was a good enough warning to keep as few layers on as he could manage. Judai quickly gathers together anything that might have spilled out of his backpack as he crawls back out of the tent, slinging the giant bag over his shoulder he stands up to walk back towards everyone around the fire.

“Well everyone thanks for having us.” Judai grins at the group before pausing. “Oh yeah, the truck I was originally driving up here has a dead battery, Kaiser is there any chance that you could pick it up?”

“You seem to have already decided for us,” Ryo sighs as he gets up brushing off scattered leaves and dirt from his pants while Fubuki remains seated. Judai seems a bit thrown off at Ryo’s readiness.

“You don’t have to do it right now.” Judai with a sincere look on his face. Ryo just rolls his eyes, looking down to Fubuki and giving his leg a small kick. The man sticks his lips out in a pout but gets up from his spot regardless.

Watching Fubuki walk over and hop into the driver’s seat of the truck parked in front of Yusei’s bike he crosses his arms as he waits for Ryo to join him as said man turns back to Judai with a smile.

“Never know what will happen to cars on deserted roads like these, we better get moved before someone decides they want it for free.” Ryo turns his gaze from Judai back to Yusei. “I also may have wanted a closer view of the show Future Boy promised last night.” Yusei blinks in thought, a lightbulb blinking back on in the back of his head.

He _had_ promised something like that hadn’t he.

“Sure thing.” Yusei says back, extending his hand out for a handshake. He’s slightly relieved when Ryo takes it, letting the arm drop back to his side as he turns to the rest of the group. “You’re all coming to see us off, right?”

They all look a bit uneasy to leave the camp unattended, but their curiosity seemed to be winning over it. Judai quickly scoops Pharaoh into his over-sized backpack, the large size more for carrying pharaoh than carrying Judai’s few belongings. He’s stopped multiple times, everyone saying their goodbyes, even exchanging a few hugs before rejoining Yusei at the duel wheel. Yusei raises the arm of the bike taking a seat as Judai climbs on carefully behind him. He hears a quiet meow from Pharaoh as Judai straightens out his back to put on his riding helmet from the day before. Yusei furrows his eyebrows, a little worried about the bumpy ride they were going to go through.

Well, the cat had made it through in one piece before.

The rest of the group hop into the back of the truck as Yusei puts on his helmet. He revs up the bike, double-checking on how secure Judai is behind him. Judai is adjusting himself as the seat leans forward with the arm guards, cooing gentle words to Pharaoh who is less than happy to be squished against the back guard. Carefully backing out of the gravel parking space Yusei moves out of the way to wait for the others to pull out.

With the academy group following close behind Yusei drives back to the entrance, following the helpful arrows on nearby signs that guide him to the exit. They earn just as many enchanted gasps as children waking up watch as Yusei pass as they had the night before. Yusei smiles at the attention, hopefully he’ll always be the shooting star for children of Satellite even as times change.

“You haven’t told me why we’re leaving early yet.” Yusei tilts his head for Judai to hear him though his eyes remain firmly on the road in front of him. He can hear Judai chuckle behind him, wrapping his arms around Yusei’s midriff as he leans forward to reply.

“There’s a duel monster’s event in a town about an hour away,” Judai says, “it’s small but they’ve got a pretty big guest making an appearance.” Not quite sure what he’s leading up to Yusei simply hums back.

“And Yugi sent me a message to see if I wanted to catch lunch with them afterwards.”

“Really?” Yusei stops the bike as he turns to look back at Judai who nods his head in response. A childlike excitement begins to rise in Yusei’s chest. Meeting Yugi the one time had been a once in a lifetime experience for someone from his time to experience, the man was little more than a dueling legend in the future.

And Judai was giving him a chance to meet him again.

\--

They stop at the corner leading out onto the main road, the group riding in the back of Fubuki’s truck hopping out onto the pavement. Feeling a tap on his shoulder Yusei turns again to look at Judai who was looking through his deck holder. Making a small victorious noise he pulls out a card, passing it to Yusei before he can ask what the other was doing.

Yusei takes the card carefully flipping it over to see just what it is. He raises his eyebrows, giving a Judai a concerned look. Judai gives him a reassuring smile leaving the card in Yusei’s hands.

“You really trust me for someone you’ve only met twice.” Yusei nods, holding the card close to himself as he speaks. The smile on Judai’s face is infectious and Yusei finds himself smiling back as he turns around again. He places the deck in his deck, just on top of Stardust for easy access. The sound of footsteps catches both of their attention and Yusei turns his head to see Johan approaching them.

“Didn’t we already say goodbye?” Judai asks, without any annoyance and more of a familiar tone. Johan gives him a small eye roll, taking a moment to admire the d-wheel up close with a whistle before turning his attention back to the riders. Yusei turns his head curiously, watching as Johan moves his hands expressively while he talks.

“Just wanted to say that I’m glad you found a direction walk towards.” Johan smiles and Yusei’s gaze catches onto the bracelet on his left hand. It looks strangely familiar in a way that he can’t place, he quickly turns away to keep from staring for too long. “Keep chasing shooting stars, Judai, it’s something that’s always suited you. Just remember you’ll always have a home here.” It’s a little awkward, but Johan leans over to give Judai one last hug, giving Pharaoh a pat through the backpack. Johan pulls back, reaching to Yusei for a handshake instead.  Smiling, Yusei returns the gesture. “It was good meeting you.”

“Same here.”

The others watch Yusei and Judai a curious look as they continue to stare on eagerly, Johan returns to his place standing next to everyone. Yusei peers down the road. He’s not going to be able to go the full speed of a normal riding duel, lest he risk a speeding ticket or falling off the edge of the cliff. With how the road curves around the mountain bends no one would be able to see him long enough to process the summoning. Being so heavily restricted felt like a large weight was holding his d-wheel back, the past was depriving him of that freedom.

The look on everyone’s face will be worth it, he tells himself bring a slight smile to his face as he turns forward. He revs the acceleration, ready for the ‘go ahead’ from Ryo as he sits in the passenger seat talking to Fubuki. Judai hooks his arms around Yusei’s torso, steadying himself for the ride ahead. Ryo sticks his head out the window giving Yusei a wave as they pull out onto the road. He waits a moment, his heartbeat already picking up speed as he pulls out onto the road. His d-wheel was set in a display mode, allowing monsters to be summoned without the necessary requirements. It was a fast shortcut to show off Stardust, one that Yusei took a lot in a Satellite to bring a small glimmer of hope to everyone around him.

“Riding duel, acceleration!” Yusei yells, revving up and shooting down the pavement at a speed that quickly overtakes the other two despite their head start. Yusei slows down to an even speed, maintaining a distance away from the truck behind them. Steadying his balance and watching the up-coming curve, he draws the top two cards from his deck with a firm grip. He feels one of Judai’s arms loosen around his torso and Judai places his hand on Yusei’s right arm.

The Crimson Dragon mark lights up, glowing bright in response to Judai’s touch. The hand retracts for a moment in surprise, but he relaxes reaching to hold his hand over Yusei’s in a way that won’t affect his driving.

“Ready?” Judai says, his voice is light filled with a joy that sounds like he’s on the edge of laughing. Feeling a similar joy bubbling up in his chest, taking flight like butterflies, Yusei nods holding the cards up in the air as he calls out.

“Take flight, Stardust Dragon!”  
“Elemental Hero Neos!”

In a shower of glowing stardust, Stardust Dragon twirls through the air diving down before rising back up to unfurl its wings sending the sparkling particles across the road from far above Yusei and Judai. Neos flashes in, zooming past the d-wheel as he flies up alongside Stardust Dragon, the dragon crying out in response as it tilts it’s head in Neos’ direction. Perhaps the two of them felt a kindred spirit from their outer space connections.

“That’s a sight I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of.” Yusei hears Judai speak quietly, the wonder in his voice was shared by Yusei as he watched Neos trail closely next to Stardust Dragon. There was a slight feeling of disappointment that he couldn’t show Star Savior Dragon as they turn around the path, the duel monsters above being forced to fly over the edge of the cliff.

Soon they were out of sight from the rest of the group and the truck trailing behind them becomes their only audience. Satisfied from being able to show off the appeal of riding duels Yusei slows down, leaving the monsters out for a moment longer as Fubuki and Ryo pull up along side them. Judai’s hand retracts from its place and he wraps it back around Yusei’s torso as they continue to drive in silence. The image of Stardust and Neos slowly fade out and Yusei carefully moves them back into the deck for safekeeping.

The two of them don’t slow down even as the others pull off to the truck they had left behind the night before. Yusei feels a slight twinge of regret, as he drives away with someone so bright. His grip tightens on the handles as he feels Judai’s phone buzz multiple times. Judai doesn’t move to check on it, safety first Yusei guesses.

Judai catches Yusei’s attention as they stop at the first turn on their journey. He turns curious while he stretches his upper body for the journey ahead of them. In Judai’s hands is his cellphone, which he is scrolling through with a smile. The grin turns to Yusei as Judai turns the screen in his direction. A handful of texts complimenting the show were scrolled through before stopping on the last text from Ryo.

“Don’t think anyone will be forgetting about that any time soon, thanks for the flashy goodbye. Keep riding towards the future you two.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was going to be longer originally but I reached a good ending point for a complete chapter. art's by me ofc


	4. Surprise Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusei and Judai take a little tourist-y detour and meet up with another friend there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay first of all [insert obligatory 'its been a whole year' joke] happy 2k19 3 months late  
> second, I could've sworn I already posted this chapter, but my brain has always moved faster than I have so apologies
> 
> and last, thank you all so much for the kudos and comments. y'all are the reason i made sure to double check what i've already posted  
> 

By the time they reach the city the sun remains high in the sky, the heat of a summer afternoon once again sticking to Yusei’s skin as warm air rushes past them as they drive through winding streets with Judai’s guidance. The numerous buildings and pedestrians walking the streets left him feeling more at ease than Yusei had felt out in the woods. They’ve gotten quite a few funny looks from people in passing cars, but thankfully the police were leaving them alone. A riding license from the future would likely get them both arrested.

Pulling around a corner Yusei is brought out of his thoughts as a brightly decorated stadium a few blocks away from them. The duel monster banners and ribbons had a very clear starting point about two blocks away from the actual stadium, if they didn’t know exactly where they were going anyone looking for this event wouldn’t even know it was in this city. Even so, the amount of ribbons on the stadium itself was almost gaudy with a Dark Magician and Blue Eyes banner stretching above the apparent entrance.

“That’s a little too much.” Yusei says to himself, though Neo Domino wasn’t one to hold back either. Maybe it was the sheer concentration, decorations were more spread around his city as dueling was a part of everyone’s life.  Judai laughs behind him before leaning forward to point in the direction of a parking garage. Complying, Yusei turns off the road slowing making his way to the back of the garage towards a more hidden corner away from the sight of curious strangers.

Judai all but leaps from behind Yusei as he lifts the arm guard, his back cracking a few times as he stretches his arms over his head. Yusei winces at a particularly loud crack as he stashes their riding helmets behind the duel wheel before joining Judai as they walk outside. Taking a deep breath, they both pause on the sidewalk to take in their surroundings. If he looked away from the stadium it was almost as if he was in a world without duel monsters, a strange and unnerving feeling for a speed duelist.

The two of them approach the stadium in a short time, the amount of people on the sidewalk around lessened as they got closer. The tournament inside must have started some time ago as no one appeared to be entering, though a few were leaving quickly. Judai guides him to a side of the wall where they can wait as he checks the time on his phone.

“We got here earlier than I thought we would.” Judai says with a slight frown. “I didn’t have anything planned to do while we wait.” He looks to Yusei with a slightly guilty look, which he responds with a slight laugh.

“Don’t let everyone else know that, they’ll think we ditched them.” Yusei mutters crosses his arms as he looks to the building they stood in front of. The architecture was old fashioned compared to the sleeker designs of inner Neo Domino. It looks far too easy to climb for it to appeal to the Tops, can’t risk anyone sneaking in. “We could climb to the top.” He says quietly to Judai with a joking tone I his voice. The idea appears to click with Judai and he turns from his phone to look at Yusei before looking up at the stadium wall.

“We should!” He says excitedly. “The view up there is great.”

“Wait, you’ve climbed it before?” Yusei stares at him with a questioning look. Judai avoids his gaze but gives a hesitant nod in response. “I’m not gonna arrest you, you don’t have to look so guilty.” Yusei shakes his head and waves Judai to follow him as they walk. “C’mon, lets give it a try.”

The building now stands a little more imposing as they walk to a slightly more secluded part of the outside wall though they can’t truly escape the eyes of the guards standing watch. It wasn’t unusual for children in Satellite to climb to higher vantage points to watch the street duels that sometimes gathered larger crowds which could be dangerous. Yusei was no exception, watching duels was almost as important as playing as it allowed access to viewing different strategies in action. Of course, climbing such heights was dangerous in its own right and many kids risked leaving with more than the excitement of a duel. Yusei shoots a glance to Judai who doesn’t appear daunted by the building’s height, nor the security guards that turned to eye them both from time to time. This needed careful planning.

“Well, no time like the present.” Judai gives him a swift pat on the shoulder before rushing through shrubbery towards the building, jumping to gain a head start grip on the wall. Yusei bites back any further comments, shooting his anxious gaze to the guards closest to them. They appear to be distracted as someone unseen around the corner calls for their help and they quickly disappear from sight.

Needing no further invitation Yusei quietly sprints up to the building jumping up to the spot Judai had used as his starting place. Judai is already a good distance up the wall ascending with ease, leaving Yusei more than a few steps behind. Once they get to a good spot Yusei plans to voice his complaint, here the climb was dangerous for more reasons than the height. Behind the metal paneling and out of the top of the stadium Yusei can hear the wild cheer of the crowd likely seated inside.

Taking the speedy pace as a challenge, Yusei’s mouth raises into a smirk taking a risky leap at a ledge above him. He gains enough pace to halfway keep up with Judai, managing to avoid a foot to the head when Judai doesn’t notice him being so close behind. He startles a bit when Yusei clears his throat as an attempt to get his attention, his grip on the paneling tightening enough to leave a small dent. Yusei only notices the deformation as he passes through the same path.

A good distance up Yusei has to take a moment to rest finding Judai waiting for him at the top of a slightly wider ledge. They do their best to stay away from the edge, wary of any curious eyes from the ground below.  Yusel pants, wiping the sweat on his face away with the back of a hand as he sits on the warm metal. They were mostly from the summer sun at this angle, the building blocking the hot rays. The humid air still hung heavily causing the cloth of his shirt to cling to Yusei’s skin leaving him longing for a nice breeze.

He looks over to Judai finding him already watching Yusei. Blinking as they make eye contact, Judai turns his gaze with a smile as he looks to the cityscape they were gaining a vantage point on. Yusei’s gaze holds for a moment longer, noting how Judai doesn’t appear like he just scaled the same distance that left Yusei winded. He was coated in a thin layer of sweat and his hair was coming loose from his once tight ponytail, but he didn’t seem to be tired. Letting out a small sigh Yusei looks away, slightly jealous of the apparent secret strength.

“You kept up surprisingly well.” Judai catches his attention, his voice standing out against the reverberating cheers from inside the stadium. Yusei laughs, clearing his throat as his heart continues to race inside of his chest.

“Yeah, but I’m paying for it now.” He refuses to look up how far they still have to go, his arms aching at the thought. “Don’t know why I followed, you didn’t even try to convince me. I haven’t climbed like this since my mid-teens.” Judai laughs, walking a touch closer to knell next to Yusei, a slight breeze generates from his movement sending the faint smell of sweet citrus drifting in the air between them.

“You make it sound like you’re an old man.” Judai teases, tilting his head as he rests it on an arm as he leans on one of his knees while looking at Yusei. A brief flash of a face that looks like his own covered in countless wrinkles plays as Yusei briefly closes his eyes. He opens them back up quickly, sighing as he leans back onto his hands as his feet dangle over the edge of the platform.

“I’m going to feel like an old man tomorrow. Sleeping on the ground and then climbing a stadium, maybe I’ll take Crow’s offer on working to stay in shape.” Yusei frowns, letting out a deep breath as he stands up. Judai watches curiously as he stretches his arms. He cracks his knuckles as he takes a hesitant look up the remaining distance. It wasn’t nearly as daunting as the wall had appeared at the bottom. So far, they appear to have gone unnoticed, anyone who had the chance to see them likely weren’t paying enough attention to catch them in the act. Or they were enjoying the show.

The rest of the climb is rather unremarkable as the two of them scale the building in silence. Yusei takes it a little slower this time, letting Judai gain a large distance before he thinks to slow down. Steadying his grip Yusei pauses, leaning his head on the warm metal. Taking in a large breath he pushes on, climbing even as his pace begins to slow.

“Come on!” Judai has to yell now, the crowd’s cheers are louder than before as they are no longer muffled by the wall. Yusei looks up with a puzzled look, surprised to see Judai leaning over the top of the roof. “Grab my hand!” Yusei isn’t one to say no to a helping hand like this and he climbs closer. Reaching for the outstretched arm his eyes stare widely as Judai takes a firm grip of his hand, making little effort to pull him up. Yusei crawls up onto the ledge, his arms even more sore than on their earlier stop.

“Thanks,” he gasps trying to ease his breath into something more stable as sweat drips off his face. Judai remains seated near the edge, leaning his head over with a wise smile on his face before standing up. Yusei smiles back up at him, letting out a slight laugh as he weakly raises his arm for Judai. He’s slowly pulled onto his feet, careful not to make himself dizzy so close to the edge. Confident his legs are stable enough to Yusei straightens out his posture, blinking before he turns to look at the small city’s horizon. With the golden hour slowly approaching bright golden rays of sunshine reflect off the glass if taller buildings creating the illusion of glowing windows.

“It’s a good view, I’ll admit that.” Yusei smiles, his heart still fluttering against his ribs as he stares beyond the city to the forested area that he and Judai came from.

“Glad you followed me?” Judai laughs.

Their attention is quickly caught by the sound of the stadium erupting into wild cheers as someone’s voice begins to echo out of the large speakers. Curious, Yusei steps away from the edge, Judai following close behind as he walks up the slightly slanted roof peaking over the surface to get a view of the main stage below. An unfamiliar figure, possibly the organizer or main announcer, is standing in the center of the stage gathering everyone’s attention as they prepare for the next duel. Two young contestants take the stage, shaking hands as they meet at the center to shuffle decks. They give each other a final firm nod before taking back their respective decks back to their spots.

“Oh, there!” As the duel begins with another loud cheer Judai points excitedly towards the back of the stage. Yusei looks closer, squinting his eyes as he scans for whatever is being pointed out. His eyes land on a familiar, albeit slightly taller, looking man standing just within sight with a hand casually on his hip. Yugi doesn’t look bored as the crowd cheers for the main event of the evening though Yusei couldn’t tell much more from so far away.

“Yugi said someone he’s worked with before recommended him to this organizer which is how he signed up.” Judai leans in closer for Yusei to hear him as the crowd becomes even louder. Yusei nods in response, finding himself getting caught up in the hype of the crowd.

“I don’t get to see a standard duel be the main event outside of junior leagues, even then there are exceptions.” Yusei wonders out loud to himself, an endearing smile on his face. The idea of a standing duel almost a novelty. “It’s easy forget the joy in the game when so many people use it to fight.”

“I know exactly what you mean…” Judai says quietly, possibly not intending for Yusei to hear him. Unsure, Yusei hums back, his eyes sparkling excitedly as the duelists exchange blows. There is a positive energy in the air as the crowd cries out for their respective favorites. Yusei can’t bring himself to tear his eyes away until he hears the sound of a lighter being flicked.

He turns his gaze towards the source of the noise, slightly surprised to catch Judai covering a small flame as he leans in to light a cigarette in his mouth. He appears just as distracted by the display below as he pockets the lighter and using the other hand to hold the cigarette as he inhales the smoke. Yusei thinks he might have stared too intensely as Judai finally takes notice.

“Sorry, I can put it out if the smoke bothers you.” Judai says smoke coming out as he talks before letting out an exhale with an apologetic smile, pulling the cigarette away from his lips. Yusei shakes his head before Judai has a chance to put it out. An eyebrow quirks up curiously, Judai bringing the cigarette back to his mouth taking in another lungful of the smoke before letting it out in a sigh. “It’s a nasty habit, but I’ve gotten a lot better since graduation. I’m trying to quit.”

“I don’t mind the smoke.” Yusei reassures earning an amused hum from Judai as they both turn back to the stage. One of the contestants was down to a fourth of their lifepoints, but they don’t appear visibly worried as the large screen on one of the stadium walls showed a closer perspective. It was absolute tell that they had something planned with the face down cards that remain on their field.

Yusei’s gaze wanders from the cards on the field over back to Yugi. He jumps a little as Yugi turns his head up in their direction. He couldn’t quite meet their gaze directly from this distance, but he was staring confidently above the crowd. Maybe they were more visible than they first thought. Yugi only lowers his gaze when someone next to him just out of Yusei’s line of sight catches his attention. Yusei leans his head near Judai again.

“I think Yugi knows we’re here.” The crowd suddenly erupts into wild cheering down below as Yusei speaks drowning out the sound so much he's not certain the message got across. They're quickly distracted by the uproar, both peeking down to check on the duel. The tides must have turned in favor for the duelist who was originally losing as they now stand proudly next to their ace monster while their opponent looks frazzled at the sudden heel turn. “Maybe that was our cue to go.”

“Yeah,” Judai hums popping the remains of his cigarette into a before unnoticed carrying case on his belt loop, “if Yugi did notice us we better not let him wait too long.” Yusei frowns on their short trip back to the ledge, peering over as his sore arms continue to ache from the trip up.

His eyebrows raise as he realizes just how high up the two of them climbed, the expression is no doubt amusing as Judai laughs at the childish pout Yusei has as he looks down. He stops his laughing with a cough, pretending he wasn’t poking fun at Yusei. Tapping his chin in thought Judai almost lets out an audible “a-ha!” as an idea pops into his head.

“I have an idea for a quicker way down, if you’ll humor me. It’s not for the faint of heart.” Judai says waiting for a response. Cautiously, Yusei nods his head watching as Judai reaches into the deck case hanging on his belt fishing out two cards without searching through them. He winks at Yusei as he raises his arm, holding the card out. A bright light envelopes the card and a solid form begins to appear from the gathering light. A Winged Kuriboh floats in front of the two of them, blinking curiously at Yusei.

The creature chirps happily floating closer to Judai as it twirls around. He laughs waving for the fuzzball to stand still as he pats its head. Yusei blinks, this wasn’t a trick of the light. The Kuriboh moves away from Judai closer to Yusei as though it was reading his thoughts. He hesitantly reaches out a hand to pet the monster’s fur, earning a pleased chirp. Not a hologram.

“That’s my partner, he created the distraction that got us a chance to get up here.” Judai says looking down at Winged Kuriboh at it starts floating below eye level. “I don’t know if you remember but I’ve always had the ability to communicate with duel spirits. Being able to summon them like this a little more recent.” Yusei cocks his head to the side, maybe he had known before, but he’s been through a lot since then. “You don’t seem surprised, usually people who don’t have the ability themselves are too skeptical to accept it.” Judai subtly questions.

“I know a few people,” Yusei shake his head out of his thoughts, “one of ‘em has had a strong bond with the duel spirit world since she was younger.” Judai stares for a moment before a smile stretches on his face.

“I can’t wait to meet her then.” Judai says, “I’ve made friends with only a handful of other people who can see spirits. Johan being one of them.” Yusei blinks in surprise before smiling back, he continues to pet Winged Kuriboh as it floats closer to him.

“I think she’ll be happy too, she hasn’t met anyone with a connection as strong as the one she has.” _That hasn’t tried to hurt her_. He leaves the last part unsaid and with a final pat he lowers his hand away from Kuriboh watching as Judai motions towards the edge.

“Think you can help him down, partner?” He asks, waving a spell card towards the duel spirit. It chirps, flapping it’s wings in a boastful manner. “Alright!” Judai holds the card towards Winged Kuriboh, encompassing it’s form in an iridescent light. Its form grows in size before the glowing ball spreads out into a larger set of wings, it’s furry body now held by a draconic form with large metal talons hanging below. The Winged Kuriboh chirps happily with its new evolved form as it rises circling around Yusei before settling a talon on each shoulder. Yusei is starting to get an idea of what Judai has in mind. Judai gives him his own skeptical look as they pause for a moment.

“Do you trust this?” Judai asks and Yusei feels the Kuriboh holding onto him tense up before letting out a barrage of chirps. “No, I didn’t mean- No, I trust _you_ completely! I just wanted to make sure Yusei was comfortable with this!” Judai defends himself from the insulted Kuriboh whose feathers have been rustled. Yusei laughs which earns his own small slap from a large wing.

“We hurt his feelings.” Yusei says, patting the fuzzy body that clings to his shoulders in an attempt to settle it down. “I trust in your bond, so I trust him to get me down.” Judai gives him a small smile, a quite genuine look despite the odd situation. Winged Kuriboh huffs loudly, in a ‘told you so’ manner.

“Well, I’ll see you at the bottom then.” Judai gives him a salute and a smirk as he crouches holding himself over the edge of the wall before disappearing out of sight. Yusei’s stomach lurches as he worries for Judai’s safety, a loud thump sounding from out of sight. He feels the claws on his shoulder reach to hold his arms more securely, gripping tight enough to threaten tearing through his shirt.

“Oh boy.” Yusei tenses up as Winged Kuriboh begins to flap its wings, his heart pounding as his feet begin to raise off the ground. Unsure what else to do Yusei holds onto the talons that are gripping him, tense as he body is pulled over the edge.

The flight goes much more smoothly than he immediately predicted and Kuriboh gets him to the ground faster than Judai. They glide for a moment to check in on Judai who is staring at a heavy dent his impact has left on the ledge they took a break on earlier. He looks to Yusei with a relieved but also guilty look on his face. He himself not appearing any worse for where as he steps away to the edge throwing one last hesitant look at the dent before leaping down behind some shrubbery.

On the ground Winged Kuriboh gently sets him down, allowing Yusei to catch himself on his feet as a few onlookers cheer in surprise, too distracted by the showy display to notice Judai push through a bush. Kuriboh loosens its grip, moving to perch on Yusei’s raised left arm as it beams proudly at the attention. Now Yusei has become an accidental feature of the duel tournament.

“Thank you.” He says to the spirit, who’s chest would puff out further if it could. What an attitude. Yusei turns to watch Judai as he walks up, his concern evident. “Are you really okay when you jump that far?” Judai blinks in surprise, a complex expression in his eyes as he attempts to find a suitable answer. Yusei shakes his head with a smile before letting out a slight sigh, better to drop it. “As long as you’re not hurt.” He reaches up with his free hand to pull a leaf stuck in Judai’s hair free.

They hold eye contact for a moment, unintentionally locked as Yusei lets the crumpled leaf go. Judai doesn’t say anything, looking away from the awkward silence.

“I knew I saw someone familiar up there.” They’re are saved from the silence by a somewhat familiar voice pulling their attention away from each other. They both turn to watch as a man steps out of the small crowd to approach them, Judai’s face shifting to a wide grin while Yusei takes a moment to process him.

“Yugi!” Judai hops over to the older man, giving him a brief hug as a greeting. Yugi smiles, returning the gesture. Side by side Judai and Yugi stand about the same height, a few inches shorter than Yusei which left him with a bemused smile. It's weird being taller than a literal legend, let alone have him standing a few feet from him. Yugi’s attention is turned from Judai to Yusei as the Winged Kuriboh still perched on his arm chirps.

“Surprised?” Yugi asks, gesturing to himself. Yusei hesitates, but his honestly take over as he nods in response. It's just weird to see him look like he aged a little over a decade when it's only been a year since Yusei saw him as a teen. The reaction earns a laugh, his voice slightly deeper than their previous encounter. “That’s alright, it’s been a much longer time for me since our duel together. Your name is Yusei right?”

He leaves the question hanging as he give Yusei a few more moments to process the physical change in front of him before he gives another nod. In that moment Winged Kuriboh begins the fade into light, the bright particles returning to Judai’s deck case.

“It’s good to see you, Yugi.” Yusei extends his right hand which Yugi accepts with a bright smile. The handshake is firm, but friendly as they let go. Yusei’s initial surprise fades and he relaxes his stiff shoulders. “When did you two become pen pals?” He asks something that came to mind earlier, watching as Judai and Yugi exchange a look.

“Yugi’s known about me since I started school at the academy.  He introduced me to Winged Kuriboh.” Judai explains, giving the deck case on his belt a small tap. “During my last year there he sent me off with a graduation duel, but we didn’t start talking regularly until I fought Paradox. Time travel made it a little more complicated than necessary.”

“If you couldn’t already tell tell, Paradox was quite a while ago,” Yugi says his eyes warm as he smiles, “seeing as I still had the puzzle.” Yusei nods in response, the missing necklace hadn’t caught his attention until now, a little distracted by his thoughts. “We can talk more over lunch,” Yugi shakes his head turning around with a wave of his hand, “I promised Judai something to eat and we should get moving before people notice me.”

“Sounds great.” Yusei smiles turning to Judai who looks similarly excited. The two of them follow behind Yugi as he walks down the sidewalk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quick edit to say that if u want to hear abt the particular hc choices for this fic or just talk in general hmu @ leonleonhart on tumblr  
> edit 2: typo's and grammar issues fixed. yusei was so shocked by yugi's appearance i thought it important to say it like 6 times


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